BRIDGE
Makable?
Andrew Robson
NORTH-SOUTH crawled into 44. Could declarer make it on •A lead and best defence thereafter?
Dealer North North-South vulnerable 4 A 9 6 V A 2 • J 107 6 3 • J 107 4 8 7 2 V 10 9 8 7 3 • A K4 + 6 5 43 ♦ K Q6 • Q 9 8 2 • K Q9 3 2 N W E
S
4K QJ 105 4 1►J 5 4 • 5 + A 8 4 South 14 34 pass The Bidding
West North East
pass 1# pass 24 pass pass 44 pass pass Having led •A, West switched hurriedly to 46 on viewing dummy. Declarer played dummy's •10 and East covered with •Q• How should declarer continue?
Best is to duck •Q. If East continues +5, he presents an extra trick to dummy's +J; if he switches to ♦K then declarer can win dummy's VA and lead a ♦ towards his • J, establishing a second ♦ trick for a • discard in dummy; if East leads a second • , then declarer has enough entries to establish dummy's fifth •. East will proba- bly switch to his trump. Declarer plays 44 from hand and beats West's •7 with 49. He ruffs a second • with 4J and leads 45. West plays low and declarer must finesse against 48, inserting dummy's 46. When that holds, he ruffs a third •, crosses to 4A, ruffs the fourth • with his last trump and crosses to VA. As he cashes the established fifth •, East must find a discard from ♦KQ and •K9. He has to retain •9 to protect 4K, so away goes VQ. Declarer exits with dummy's low V and, having won VK, East must lead a + round to dummy's +J at trick 12, Declarer succeeded, but did he get best defence?
No — West missed his chance. When declarer led a second round of trumps, he should have played his 48. This would have prevented dummy's 46 from being an entry, and declarer would be set.
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